The present application relates generally to shooting range safety devices and, more specifically, to a portable projectile trap assembly to stop and contain projectiles fired at the assembly.
Bullet traps per se are well-known and have been used for many years. Typically, such traps are used by firearm manufacturers, by training facilities for military or police personnel, and by recreational target shooting facilities. Bullet traps are of widely varying configurations, from wood boards, to sand-filled traps, to complex deceleration chambers.
By way of example, a known sand-type bullet trap typically consists of a quantity of sand in a hardwood box set against a concrete wall. This type of trap poses several problems. For example, as the trap begins to fill with lead bullets, there is a risk that an incoming bullet will strike a bullet lodged in the sand and ricochet in a dangerous manner.
More recently, bullet traps have been developed which are smaller and portable, and which contain and collect the spent bullets. For example, one such bullet trap is essentially a steel box having a removable plywood front. Bullets fired at the trap pass through the plywood, shatter on the steel back of the box and fall to the floor of the box. When the plywood front becomes too full of bullet holes to safely contain the shattered bullets, the plywood is removed, the shattered bullets at the bottom of the box are collected, and the plywood front is replaced with a new piece of plywood. Other designs are similar but use a front panel of a rubberized material, sometimes referred to as ballistic rubber, rather than plywood to contain the shattered bullets. In other similar designs, the box will not have a bottom panel and is left open at the bottom. A tray or similar device is placed under the open bottom of the box to collect the shattered bullets.